Sheffield Wednesday Betting

On a Wednesday evening in 1867, members of The Wednesday Cricket Club met at The Adelphi public house in Sheffield’s city centre to form a football team. They named themselves The Wednesday F.C., referring to the one day of the week that the players, primarily local craftsmen, could take off a half-day from work for participation in sports.

The Club’s first competitive games were played in February 1868 as part of a tournament called the Cromwell Cup. The Wednesday defeated the Garrick Club 1-0 after extra time in the Final at Bramall Lane, thus securing the team’s first-ever piece of silverware.

The next fifteen years saw the Club’s evolution towards fully-fledged professional status. They scored Sheffield Challenge Cup triumphs in 1877, 1878 and 1881, along with a pair of victories in the Wharncliffe Charity Cup in 1879 and 1882. By 1883, The Wednesday had emerged as Sheffield’s dominant footballing power and split from the cricket crew to stand on their own.

The Wednesday soon became regular entrants in the FA Cup and in 1887 they turned pro, paying players five shillings for home games plus seven shillings and sixpence for away fixtures. Their application to join the Football League in 1889 was refused, so the Club became part of a rival league—the Football Alliance—and immediately set about winning all eleven of their home fixtures to claim the Alliance title. They also finished runners-up to Blackburn Rovers in the 1889-90 edition of the FA Cup.

In 1892, admission to the Football League was granted, with election to the newly enlarged First Division. Four seasons later, The Wednesday F.C. would capture their first FA Cup, defeating Wolverhampton Wanderers 2–1 in the final at Crystal Palace in London.

In 1899, Hillsborough Stadium in the Owlerton district of Sheffield became the Club’s permanent home. A player presented the team with an owl mascot to honour their new Owlerton base, and The Wednesday have been nicknamed “The Owls” ever since.

The first decade of the 20th century was all Wednesday’s. They won the League championship twice, in the 1902-03 and 1903-04. Then they found success in the FA Cup once again, upending Everton 2-1 at Crystal Palace in 1907. On only two occasions prior to 1915 were the Owls ranked lower than seventh on the League’s First Division table.

A brief dip into the Second Division after World War I was ended by a championship in 1925-26. The Club then went on to win the League’s First Division title in 1928-29. Under the stewardship of manager Robert Brown in 1929, the club was officially renamed “Sheffield Wednesday Football Club.”

The name change must have suited the Owls. It marked the start of a run of seasons in which the Club finished lower that third in the League only once until 1936. The primary of highlight of that period was a third FA Cup triumph in 1935, won at the expense of West Bromwich Albion, 4-2, before a crowd of 93,204 at Wembley Stadium.

After the hiatus forced by World War II, Sheffield Wed were unable to recapture their past glory. For the quarter century between 1949 and 1974, they yo-yoed between Divisions One and Two. Then, a terrible season in 194-75 dropped them to the Third Division for the first time in Club history. It was an exile that would last until 1980, when the yo-yoing began again.

In 1991-92, Sheffield Wednesday were playing solidly in the First Division. They made their debut in the Premier League for its inaugural season and held a position there through 2000. A decline to the third tier occurred in 2003, but by 2005 the Owls were promoted to the Championship League—a status they would not relinquish until 2010.

Although Sheffield Wednesday F.C. have entered 2012 as a League One (third tier) team, it’s important to note that most of their history has been spent in the top flight of British football—66 of 110 seasons. It’s a good bet they’ll be promoted again soon, either through a top-two finish or by winning their way back via the League One playoffs. They have never been relegated below tier three.